Meryl and Charlie win their 2nd senior GPF title and now have 3 medals at the event overall!
Nathalie and Fabian win their 2nd senior GPF medal, a silver to add to their bronze from last season!
Vanessa and Paul win their 1st senior GPF medal, a bronze!

D/W's tango has improved a lot, but those frantic arms still need to be contained IMO, it's a tango after all. Is Charlie the boss of that dance or else?
Don't know if they should have on by that much. P/B were great too (not perfect though), but I'm suspicious to say anything as they are my favs at this point.

Does anyone have any insight into why Vanessa and Paul are not doing 4 lifts like the other teams are? Why are they giving up points to the rest of the field by omitting a technical element? Could it be due to her injury perhaps?

The serpentine lift is a long lift, which is worth the same base value as two short lifts.

Thank you! I see now from the protocol, that the SeLi4 is worth 8 points in base value whereas most other shorter lifts are worth 4 points in base value if the couples are able to attain the highest level 4 on them. It all makes sense now.

My problem with Ice Dance now is that there are too many tricks to judge and not enough about dancing. I suppose dancing (rhythms, Timings, proper steps, togetherness, etc.) is still there, but it have become, imo, second to tricks.
At some point in the future, Pairs and Ice dance will meld.

My problem with Ice Dance now is that there are too many tricks to judge and not enough about dancing. I suppose dancing (rhythms, Timings, proper steps, togetherness, etc.) is still there, but it have become, imo, second to tricks.
At some point in the future, Pairs and Ice dance will meld.

You know, you are quite right. I am a dance fan in particular, and the rules are way too constraint to leave room for mauch dancing.

Lifts are fine but too many for my taste, spins make no sense to have in ice danncing, and twizzles as well. I guess, there have to be one technical element to differentiate in "visible" skating skills, but for me, the midline step sequence should be sufficient in the SP and twizzles in the FD. But that would be it. The rest, please leave for dancing, because that is what is mostly missing these days.

Eyewitness Thoughts

Finally getting around to my dance notes after seeing this competition live.

Warm up of first three couples: What the ...? In this short warm-up I've seen at least 10 near-collisions, got to be a Guiness record there. Only 6 people on the ice and they want to be in each other's laps? Or playing a game of chicken?

B/S: He falls out of twizzles, same mistake as in their SD. This skate seems more ragged somehow than when I saw them skate it at CoC. I wish his outfit was more than just a black pants and white shirt--he looks like he didn't have time to change after a day at the office. She needs a stronger partner, he needs to practice twizzles.
Overall score disappointing for them, not even breaking 140.

C/P: Gawd, this is just not very effective music--maybe it's the song version or the pacing or the choreography or all three. Half the crowd isn't even paying attention to their skate, it's that boring. The skating itself is relatively ho-hum, interspersed with a few tricks. I hope the judges were paying attention, because few others were. I liked this team last year and thought they had a lot of good moments, but I'm not seeing any progress this year. And I wonder if there just hasn't been any progress, or if the poorly-chosen SD and FD vehicles this year obscure the view. Score probably above B/S simply because they didn't make any obvious mistakes. And it is, though also doesn't break 140.

W/P: What is going on in Canada this year with program music selection for dance teams? This Moulin Rouge program is UGH, the music cuts add up to a disjointed whole. She hits some nice positions and they seem to execute decently, but their skating basics don't seem as strong as the previous two teams, and they are a little slow. I lost count of how many lifts this program has--it seemed as if they skate for a couple of seconds then she goes up again into a lift. The program is too circus-y for my taste. I have no idea what the judges will do with this. Oy! Just below B/S in last place. This dance tech panel seems to be a bunch of tough customers tonight.

Second group warm up: More civilized, or maybe more restrained. No near-collisions in this bunch. Make particular note of Bourzat's solo warm-up...he has some very nice smooth moves. And his skating is mightly fine also.

H/Z: Aargh. I saw this program at CoC, thought it was grating, and it's even worse now. The music of the first half has almost too much tension in it. The crowd sort of collectively goes Huh? at the music and concept--I can't say I blame them. The choreography is almost too frantic and the arm flailing gets scary. Max has a goof-up at one end of the rink during the last minute. Overall, I thought this skate was rougher and messier than what they put out at CoC, so not sure what's going on there. Wow--lowest score so far which drops them to last. They are better skaters than this--GET A NEW FD PROGRAM NOW, hopefully before Europeans.

P/B: Crowd thinks the real competition has now begun. Chaplin program was seen here at CoC and was well-received. This couple has superior skating skills to the previous couples, and well-showcased here. This program is just so nicely paced and choreographed, and it seems almost like an exhibition number but with real hard content. Dance spin was a bit slow. A very enjoyable program and they continue to polish it like a diamond. Well deserved first place so far, by a huge margin.

D/W: Had not seen their program before, even on youtube, so this was all fresh. It's a very busy program and they have to be careful not to let it get out of control, or too frantic. I had heard that they have actually toned it down from what it was at the season start. It looks like a very technically difficult program but that's only an assumption as I'm not that knowledgeable on the fine points of dance scoring. Those little jumps into the twizzle sequence are to-die-for and very effective though require perfection--I would give them a level 6 if there was such a thing. I'm so-so on this music, and the last 40 seconds or so, it really grated on my nerves. For me, it's a program that earns awe and respect, but I still don't find it very enjoyable or engaging.
Not surprised they end up with first place and gold medal.

I think placements at this competition were correct. B/S shot themselves in the foot twice (SD and FD), and lost what should have been their bronze medal. Overall, this competition was not even a horse race, and really suffered by not having V/M, F/S, Kerrs, heck...even Max Shabalin and his bum knees would have been a sight for sore eyes here. Or a Samuelson/Bates or Capellini/Lanotte.

No, I love their FD too . . . all the hate on it is totally lost on me. It's probably my 2nd favorite of all their FDs in their career only behind Samson + Delilah from the 2009 season. If it is ever skated to the same level that S+D was at 2009 Worlds, it could possibly become my #1 favorite D&W FD. I love its passion and maturity.